Platinum
by ElSupremo
Summary: (Sophomore Year.) With only two days left before the Homecoming Dance, Benji finds himself caught between a rock and hard place, also known as Beca and Jesse. Forced into playing messenger, he finds himself saddled with an interesting favor: escorting someone to the dance. Benji/?
1. Plea

_A/N: There weren't any Benji fics so I thought I'd be the first xx  
All in Benji's POV._

**Chapter 1- Plea**

I ran my fingers over the cold, monochromatic keys, brushing over them ever so lightly; only enough so that they depressed slightly under my touch. Breathing in, I let my finger firmly sink into one.

A Flat.

And after a sharp inhale, I echoed the solitary note with my own distinct bellow, both sounds filling the desolate auditorium.

Perfect pitch.

As the last breath left my lips, I felt my breath catch, my voice straining out the last bit of air to a quiet diminuendo.

And the room was silent again.

I found myself spending another dreary Wednesday afternoon alone in the theater before practice. It wasn't so bad actually. It was nicer than spending a dreary afternoon alone in my dorm room. Especially since I think my hamster ran away and died somewhere... I grimaced at the thought.

But not only that, I was also practicing for our next big performance at the Homecoming Dance this Friday, where we'd be duetting with the Bellas._ 'It's going to be my first time going to dance too,'_ I thought, smiling. _'Even if it was by myself...'_

The comfortable silence was broken by the quiet rustle of someone pushing through set equipment behind the curtain.

"Hey Benji! Sounds great, man." I jumped up, surprised, catching the figure bounce into my left view before I could say anything. "Hey, so can I ask you a favor?" The figure thumped my back.

"Uhh sure, Jesse... what's up..." I rambled, confused. I wasn't accustomed to Jesse coming in for practice so early.

"So, here's the thing. Beca's kind of pissed at me right now..." He leaned over the front of the baby grand to rest within my proximity. "Apparently she thinks I stole the Bella's Sectionals setlist so I could use it for the Treblemakers'..." His foot tapped nervously on the floor, awaiting my reaction.

"And did you?"

"... Well, ok, I kind of sort of borrowed it just to look at it." He threw his hands about, waving the matter off. "But that's not the point. She's really mad at me, and she doesn't want to talk to me for a while, and the Homecoming Dance is in two days..." He circled manically on the stage, watching his feet pace about. "And if she's still mad at me, she won't sing, and neither will the Bellas. And I promised Nate O'Neal that the 'two best aca pella groups in the Nation would peform a rare duet' at the dance." He airquoted sarcastically, as he slumped onto the bench beside me.

"So can't we just do it ourselves... We have material..." I stared at him blankly.

"I doubt it. O'Neal is the biggest douche bag on campus... and he's in charge of mass funding for ALL the student groups. So that means if we don't go through with the gig, he'll have incentive not to give us good funding." He let out a sigh. "And since we didn't win any prize money at Nationals last year... we're pretty much broke without funding." He thumped his head onto the piano, deflated. "We'd only have enough money left to travel to Regionals and Sectionals..."

"I see." I mumbled, trying to calculate where my favor would fit in amongst all this. Pulling myself out of my thoughts, I caught Jesse's gaze.

"I need you to help me, man. I need you to talk to Beca."

I flinched. "Uhh... what..." I stumbled backwards and off of the bench, almost falling to the ground.

"C'mon man, I know she gets along with you. You're probably the only person she would actually listen to! You're the voice of reason, Benji!" He stood up and neared me, cornering me at the edge of the stage.

"But I-I... I really don't think it's my pla-" He grabbed me by the shoulders before I took another step back.

"Please Benji. She literally won't even stay in the same room with me long enough for me to explain. And I have no one else to go to. The fate of the Treblemakers is literally depending on me... and on you." He deepened his stare. "This is your chance to be Luke Skywalker and save the day."

My eyes darted on the floor helplessly, looking everywhere but his face. I'm not going to lie, girls in general, let alone Beca, pretty much scared the living daylights out of me. Quite frankly, I would rather be swallowed by Sarlacc, the carnivorous monstrosity from Star Wars, and be digested slowly and painfully for a thousand years than have to moderate between Beca and Jesse... But maybe that was just me.

I looked up to his face again to see his bottom lip quivering. I winced at the words I knew were about to come out of his mouth next... "Please help me, Benji. You're my only hope." I let out a sigh and shrugged, defeated.

"Okay." I mumbled, as Jesse jumped up in joy and patted me on the back. I gave him a half-hearted smile in return.

"All I'm asking is for you to just tell her the story, and tell her how sorry I am. And, oh, if that doesn't work, tell her O'Neal is in charge of the funding, and that we need them to still com-"

As I watched his mouth move, but no words seemed to reach my ears, I started to wonder if this was a good idea after all.


	2. Pledge

_All in Benji's POV._

**Chapter 2- Pledge**

Trudging through the rain back to the dorms, I was tormented by constant cold splatters of rain smacking me in the face._ 'They're telling you to get out while you can, Benji.'_ I told myself, but then shook off my ridiculousness. Some of the ice cold drops trickled far enough into my hair to nestle onto my raw scalp, sending shivers down my spine.

It's times like this when I wish I had an invisibility force shield. It would also let me slip away undetected from the mess that was about to unfold.

Approaching the glass door to the dorms, I braced myself for what was to come. Screaming? Hitting? Scoffing? ... Crying? God forbid, she'd cry; I have no idea what to do with a crying girl.

I swiped into the building, and made my way up to the third floor. As I rounded the corner to the main hallway, I caught the glimpse of someone entering Beca's room and the door shutting behind them.

_'This is my chance._' I thought to myself, relieved._ 'She's too busy to talk right now. I'll just come back later.'_ I nodded to no one.

Just then I heard a giddy scream come from behind the door... It sounded like a happy scream. Curious, I inched closer and closer, until my ear stood a respectable foot away from the door. Through the walls, I faintly heard an overjoyed conversation taking place.

"...Beca, I'm just so happy to see you."

"Okay, well tell me what happened! Why are you back?"

"My senior capstone advisor died!" I heard a gasp. "The credit wasn't approved before graduation, and they're making me take the class over..."

"Oh my god, that's terrible."

"Well, I was so sad at first, I almost cried, but then I realized I'd get to spend another semester with the Bellas!" Ecstatic squealing followed.

"Well, just in time! The Homecoming Dance is this Friday! You can be my date! I'm not talking to Jesse right now. He had the nerve to steal our setlist and look at it..."

"Oh my god, that asshole..."

"Yeah, so you can go with me."

"well... I would Bec, but I know you and Jesse are going to end up making up, and I'm going to end up alone by myself with a bunch of underclassmen... And it's already weird that I'm a fifth year, and I don't know any of these new kids... I just don't think I'd fit in..."

"No! That's not true! Okay, well, what if I find you someone? Then would you go?"

"I mean, I guess, bu-"

And with that, the door clicked and flew open, and I found myself face-to-face with an annoyed Kimmy Jin. I strained a nervous smile, but Kimmy remained straight faced. "Beca, your weird magic friend is stalking you." She deadpanned.

"Benji?" Beca turned from her spot to stare questioningly at me. Kimmy pushed me aside as she made her way through the door. Catching my balance, I looked up to notice Beca and another girl looking down at me: Chloe.

"Oh, hey Chloe." I fidgeted.

She raised her eyebrows at me in response.

"Uhh... so Benji." Beca said finally, breaking the silence. "What... can I help you with?"

"Oh," I held my arm embarassed at being caught. That sure wasn't going to make my job any easier. "Well, I came to you to talk about that whole setlist fiasco..."

"Oh my god," She cut me off, "What a coward... Jesse sent you to apologize for him, didn't he." She planted her knuckles firmly on her sides.

"Umm..." My eyes darted around the room nervously, and accidentally shared eye contact with Chloe, before darting back to the other side of the room. "N-No, not at all. As his fellow AcaBrother, it's my duty to moderate peace so that we can all go back to Aca Harmony, that's all." I gulped. "And to be honest, as an impartial bystander, I think the Bellas should still do the duet, regardless of a silly, little incident like that."

Beca turned to Chloe. "Chloe, can we catch up later? Sorry." Chloe nodded and slipped by me with plenty of room to spare, but I still jumped out of the way anyway. "Ok Benji." Beca turned back to me. "So you're telling me that after you guys are clearly trying to sabotage us and steal our setlist, that we should help you guys out, and still do the collab?" She looked at me unimpressed. "I know Jesse is just doing it so he can ass-kiss O'Neal and get more funding." Beca crossed her arms and extended her neck waiting for a response.

"No, he's not trying to sabotage you! He just wanted to take a look at it, I promise. You guys are just SO good at mashing up songs, he probably wanted to get a feel for how good our competition really is. And, I mean, you guys are... AWESOME." I smiled widely. "I literally kiss the ground you walk on."

Beca looked at me skeptically... almost smirking if I was reading her social cues correctly. And after what seemed like an eternity of silence, she finally spoke, "Okay, here's the deal... Mr. Applebaum." She planted her knuckle on her hip once more, as if she was ready to take control. I swallowed. "You don't have a date to the dance, right?"

"I mean, not exactly, but I'm quite fine wi-"

"Good, you take my friend to the Homecoming Dance, and I'll say the Treble Maker's debt is repaid." She smiled triumphantly.

My mouth stuttered, not able to formulate coherent words. Another favor? This seemed to be some sick Jabba-esque game lately. "B-B-But I don't understand, this was yours and Jesse's debacle... why am I being dragged into this?" I begged. All I wanted was a nice night at a dance, maybe some punch, sing some show tunes, and then come back home, unharmed. This was too much.

"Because, Benji," Beca smiled, almost evily might I add, "You guys are AcaBrothers. And it's your duty to moderate peace so that we can all go back to Aca Harmony." She scoffed. I knew I shouldn't have pulled out the rulebook.

"Okay, I'll do it." I mumbled, defeated once again.

"And you have to wear a nice matching suit, and buy her a nice corsage, and pick her up at her dorm room too!" Beca smiled. She seemed to be having a lot of fun with this.

"Okay I will." I sighed. "But who is it?"

"Chloe."

I nearly choked.


	3. Plight

_All in Benji's POV._

**Chapter 3- Plight**

I mean, it's not that I don't like Chloe... it's that I'm almost 99.9999% positive that she doesn't like me. And those are very high statistical odds. And to be quite honest, this night had an overwhelmingly high chance of ending in embarrassment, rejection, awkwardness, or things going horribly awry...

I sighed wondering why I agreed to do this again in the first place. _Just do things according to your plan, Benji._ I reassured myself.

Approaching the porch of the Alpha Chi Alpha house, I paused momentarily at the bottom step and took a large gulp. _Well, here goes nothing._

One step. Two steps. Three steps.

I trudged to the front door as the wooden porch creaked tauntingly at me from below. And then I paused at the front door.

Just before I could summon any inkling of courage, a wave of nausea and anxiety swept over me as I was drained of my last bit of placidity. And glancing down at my sweaty palms, I'm quite sure all blood was draining from me as well.

And now my body began trembling violently. _Was it hot out here, or was it just me?_ I loosened my tie and glanced around, panicking. If nobody saw me, maybe I could just leave and say I got sick? But no wait, I have a solo in the performance tonight. What if I left a note saying my tux was torn to shreds by a vicious dog, and I wouldnt be able to escort her? But there were no dogs on campus. Or maybe I fractured my leg practicing my new Houdini magic trick and couldn't fit my cast into my tuxedo pants...

The door swung open and a surprised-looking Chloe stood behind it, staring directly face-to-face with me. The remaining blood in my face had most definitely drained from me at that moment.

_Note to self. Stop standing directly behind closed doors. They made for too many awkward moments._

In a moment of self-preservation, I opened my mouth to say something to make the moment less awkward. But instead I now stood with my mouth gaping and unable to blink or formulate words.

Chloe raised an eyebrow in confusion, and then two, before both brows settled in a furrowed expression on her face. "Umm, Benji?" She questioned worryingly. "You do know it's okay to knock doors, right?"

"Oh!" I stumbled, laughing. "Yes, yes of course." I shook my head and cursed at myself for letting my nerves get the better of me. "I was just preparing myself for how I was going to greet you..." I explained unnecessarily.

"Aww." The corner of her lip turned upwards slightly.

"...with my magic."

"Oh..." I pulled a rose from my sleeve, but quickly fumbled it to the floor as the petals twirled in the air in a floral explosion.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry." I scrambled to the ground to pick up the flower pieces. Some rose petals clung to her dress as they descended towards the ground. "That wasn't supposed to happen like that..."

"It's ok, Benji..."

"I was supposed to pull it out and present it to you so you could wear it as your corsage..." I quickly swept the petals from the ground into my hands.

"Benji, it's ok."

"And now you don't even have anything to wear... Maybe I can glue it back together..."

"Benji." She placed her hands over mine as they cupped the broken flower petals. She was now stooping over me, and I was staring up at her in uncomfortably close proximity.

She looked kind of pretty from down here actually. Her eyes twinkled in a worried yet bemused way.

"Seriously, it's ok. You didn't even have to take me, so you showing up is enough." She smiled honestly. And then the blood returned back to my face.

"O-Okay..." I looked down as soon as I realized I was staring. "Maybe I'll just throw these away then..." I delicately pulled the petals from her dress as I stood, careful not to touch anywhere I wasn't supposed to.

As I stood fully, I realized one innocent petal lay in the long curls of her hair. Without realizing the possible awkwardness of the situation, I brushed the curl behind her shoulder and picked it off delicately like the others.

And then my eyes met hers.

Except she didn't look so much love struck as she did uncomfortable. Actually, she looked like she wanted to run away from me as fast as she could because I accidentally grazed her breast. "Benji?"

"Yes..."

"Can we just go."

"Yes." I turned on my heels and walked briskly away, Chloe trailing a good distant behind me. This was going to be a long night.


End file.
